Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Lighten Up, Awreddy! The Prez Fist-Bumps, and the Buddha Giggles!
Posted by Jackson Baker on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Japanese prime ministers in the jungle room at Graceland, Khrushchev at Disneyland, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” These are signal moments in diplomacy, attempts by representatives of one culture to cross the divide separating them from another. And this distinguished Tibetan cleric, here on a very mission of cross-cultural bonding, for Heaven’s sake, is not some pulpit-pounding televangelist scourge. He’s from Asia, where a sense of humor is intrinsic to theological traditions. I mean, the Buddha laughs. He even giggles!
Like it or not, the fist bump is a nascent form of greeting in these United States. The President of the United States and the First Lady famously did it. And the acting mayor of River City, U.S.A. is supposed to be above it?? Nah! As for “Hello, Dolly,” the Broadway-descended title from which Lowery’s good-natured pun derives, it is — again, like it or not — a bona fide cultural reference, a part of American history, if you will, not an insult.
Instead of acting like offended self-righteous elders or, alternatively, scornful cynics whom nothing can please, why don’t we take our cue from the Dalai Lama himself, who responded to Lowery’s gesture with apparent pleasure and, as the admirable Chris Davis’ on-site videos demonstrate, reciprocated it later on with an appropriate homily on how it symbolizes the conversion of a symbol of violence into one of affection.
Quite simply, that is exactly the meaning of the fist-bump. Hello, Dalai! Nice to have you here and glad you speak our language!
Comments (15)
Showing 1-15 of 15
But, Jackson, the fist bump brought shame to our city. Not our poverty rate, not our crime rate. the fist bump...and the grizzlies, I guess.
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thank goodness for a voice of reason on this matter....watch the entire video and you will see what appears to be geniune warmth between Mayor Lowery and the Dalai Lama..
While watching the video turn your computer speakers way up. Right after Myron greets him The Dalia Lama looks at AC and mutters, "Who the hell is this heavyset little swamp donkey?"
Right, Mute! Like the president, right? If you must be judgmental, judge on something other than race, how about?
I admit my initial reaction to the fist bump was disappointment. I would like my city's leadership to have some decorum and professionalism, and to inspire the same in the rest of us. But to GSF's comment I imagine the Dalai Lama would respond along the lines of this: shame cannot be brought to your city by a fist bump. Shame comes from within us, from the exact same place as pride. Neither emotion is very productive. Compassion and a sense of humor will make our city a much better place to live than pride.
Jackson,
I totally and wholeheartedly agree with you on this. Unfortunately, however, your editor greatly contributed to blowing this incident out of proportion.
Yes, Myron's approach undoubtedly offended some folks who are sticklers for protocol and formality when interacting with dignitaries like the Dalai Lama. But I strongly suspect that an equally large number of folks thought Myron's approach was kinda cool.
And so what if the incident raised the eyebrows of a few national media outlets? In general, Memphis spends FAR, FAR too much time fretting about what the national media says about us.
Yeah, you're right. after 18 years of Herenton, half of them scripted like a Twilight Zone episode, we have no dignity left to dispense with.
I just think in a formal setting as that was (unlike Obama's affectionate gesture with his wife) a bit more decorum would have been in order. At some other point in the visit or interaction with the Dalai Lama, it might have worked.
But let's face it, Myron's not cool. Never has been cool. Never will be cool.
He should just embrace his nerdiness and work it. Then again, maybe that's what he was doing yesterday.
After considering voting for Lowery, his self-aggrandizing fist-bump decided it for me. Rather than show the humility and respect that an elected official is expected to demonstrate for an esteemed religious figure, Lowery decided to make a little news for himself. I'm happy the Dalai Lama has a sense of humor, but do you think Myron would have fist-bumped the Pope and called him Benny?
The Dalai Lama is a Buddhist--he hardly cares for decorum. If Myron had passed gas, the Lama would have laughed.
For what it's worth the Dalai Lama seemed to share the humor of the moment. This appears to have been perceived far worse at the local level than on the national scene. According to his CNN article, the Mayor cleared the greeting with the Dalai Lama's representatives before the meeting took place. This is Memphis after all, which might be why there is such a fuss. The Mayor gives a more informal greeting (one I know O would appreciate considering what the Dalai Lama probably receives everywhere else he goes), on behalf of a city that actively portrays itself to the rest of the nation as a more laid back, informal place. Meanwhile, the local-yokals rarely receive international dignitaries, and they simply don’t know how to react, but they assume it should be very solemn and respectful. Pull out those moth eaten Sunday suits, scrub behind your ears and get ready to bow a lot…can we touch them?
Talk about much ado about nothing? The Dalai Lama enjoyed the fist bump and found it totally amusing. It didn't bring any shame on the city. The bored idiots who criticized it need to have their inferiority complexes surgically removed. Way to go, Myron. (fist bumpin ya through the monitor.)
I think Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery's fist bump was nothing more than a terribly misguided and impulsive attempt at an innocent greeting. Everybody gets starstruck and goofy at some point in their lives, and I don't know many people who wouldn't be pretty awed by His Holiness, The Dalai Lama's presence.
In my opinion, this fist-bump load amounts to nothing more than the Memphis equivalent of Howard Dean's "Byaaaaaah!" It happened; it's over. So, I think we should all just try to shake it off and move on. There is nothing we can do about it now. If anything, it's just further public audition (like a sort of trial run) by Myron Lowery for the office of Mayor of Memphis.
If you're down with the 'Fist-Bump Incident', and see it as friendly and harmless, then use it to help discern your choice for office. If you think it was a horribly embarrassing misstep by someone who was representing our city, then let that be a determining factor in who you pick. Either way, inform yourself. And for pete's sake, people... CARE! Let's take back our City! Go vote.
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